Winemaking
Filtration
Physically straining wine to clarify or stabilise it, and the long argument about whether doing so strips character or merely strips haze.
Overview
Coarse filtration clarifies; sterile filtration removes yeast and bacteria, which prevents refermentation in bottle.
Heavy filtration can strip texture and aroma, and a number of producers bottle unfiltered and accept some cloudiness in exchange.
An unfiltered wine is not automatically better, and a filtered one is not automatically industrial — this is a genuine judgement rather than a moral choice.
Sources
Sources consulted
- WSET educational materials and the Systematic Approach to Tasting — Wine & Spirit Education Trust
- The Australian Wine Research Institute — AWRI
More in winemaking
Winemaking
Fermentation
Yeast converting sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide — the step that makes wine wine.
Winemaking
How red wine is made
Fermenting grape juice in contact with the skins, which is where colour and tannin come from.
Winemaking
How white wine is made
Pressing the juice off the skins before fermentation, then fermenting the clear juice.